Las Vegas had a packed house as it waited for Los Angeles’ Lonzo Ball to take the floor against Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics. The hype around Lonzo and specifically the Lakers this summer has been unmatched. It’s been one of the largest hype around one player since arguably LeBron. That didn’t stop Jayson Tatum and the Celtics, though. The Celtics pulled out an 86 to 81 win down the stretch.
Lakers Keys
For the Lakers, a few big things stood out. First and foremost, Lonzo Ball shook off the 2-15 shooting night on Friday and came in with a splash.
He hit his first three-point attempt and ended up racking a triple-double with 11 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists. Lonzo still didn’t shoot the ball particularly well, but his movement with his passes and willingness to pitch the ball up the floor was beautiful. It led to easy looks for the Lakers, and Lonzo was at the forefront of it all even dealing out a couple no-look assists.
Former Utah star Kyle Kuzma was spectacular in Saturday night's’ matchup. Kuzma shot 12 of 26 with 31 points and 9 rebounds. Kuzma was the largest beneficiary from Lonzo Ball, catching cuts to the lane and spot-up threes. Kuzma was a big name coming in from the Lakers front office. They mentioned frequently how much they liked this guy out of Utah.
It showed Saturday night.
Celtics Keys
Jayson Tatum was once again great. He had 27 points and 11 rebounds. While Lonzo Ball was the star of the night, Tatum’s final numbers came under the radar but he was a force in the winning effort, scoring 19 in the second half. He shot 9 of 19 from the field and 8 of 8 from the free throw line.
Jaylen Brown had a disappointing outing, finishing with just 13 points on 4 of 13 shooting. Since the first game where Brown had over 20 points, he hasn’t looked as dominant. He’s been dancing with defenders instead of getting to places in a straight line. It seems to be Brown is trying out things he worked on in the offseason, and seeing how it works against some live competition.
Semi Ojeleye was great for Boston. The forward had 19 points on 6 of 13 shooting and showed a great ability to shoot the three-ball. Ojeleye was known for his defensive presence but came up big for Boston knocking down 5 of 9 threes.
The Lakers’ youngsters looked like they are getting the hang of things. The flow looked a lot better than Friday night, and a lot of that was due to Lonzo. They'll have a day off Sunday after having played a back-to-back. They come back to action against the Kings on Monday night.
